His Excellency Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, President of the COP28 Conference of the Parties, stressed that in accordance with the vision of the leadership in the UAE, the COP28 Presidency is intensifying its efforts and cooperating with all concerned to ensure that climate financing is available in an accessible and affordable manner for all, especially developing countries, To lay the necessary foundations for building a future that supports climate and sustainable economic development.
This came during the “Third Ministerial Meeting on Climate and Development”, which was held within the “Preliminary Ministerial Meetings of the Conference of the Parties COP28”, and was co-hosted by the United Kingdom, Vanuatu and Malawi. The first ministerial meeting on climate and development was held in 2021 in Glasgow, United Kingdom, during the COP26 conference, with the aim of unifying efforts aimed at supporting countries exposed to the repercussions of climate change.
In his speech during the meeting, His Excellency called for more efforts to address the shortfall in “adaptation” financing and to prioritize measures that facilitate the access of climate financing to the countries most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change. He said, “The safety of humans and planet Earth is at the heart of the COP28 climate action system.” Which focuses on protecting individuals and improving lives and livelihoods.”
His Excellency also stressed the need to listen to the voices and opinions of emerging and developing countries, to ensure a just transition to low-emission, climate-resilient economic growth that includes everyone, explaining the need to benefit from COP28 to provide an effective and tangible response to the global outcome to evaluate progress in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, and to determine the courses of action required to address it. Financing gaps and shortcomings in the global climate finance architecture.
His Excellency pointed out that increasing financing for “adaptation” is an essential aspect of efforts to develop climate finance, and that providing financing in an accessible manner and at a reasonable cost is one of the four pillars of the COP28 Presidency’s action plan, which also includes accelerating the achievement of an orderly, responsible, fair and logical transition in the energy sector, and protecting people. nature, improving lives and livelihoods, and fully including everyone in the conference’s work system.
It is noteworthy that the COP28 presidency supports many initiatives and measures aimed at enhancing climate financing, including urgently fulfilling the annual financing commitments worth $100 billion that developed countries have pledged to assist developing countries for more than a decade, and replenishing the resources of the Green Climate Fund, with a focus on achieving the required balance. Between funding allocated to both “mitigation” and “adaptation” topics, obtaining new pledges for “adaptation” funding with the aim of doubling it by 2025, replenishing the resources of the Adaptation Fund, which is the only multilateral fund dedicated to adaptation, and accelerating the activation and financing of the Loss and Damage Remediation Fund, which constitutes a component Critical to the success of adaptation efforts.
During the first week of COP28, the UAE will host the “Shareholder Dialogue” of the Adaptation Fund, a conference to provide pledges to support climate action efforts in countries most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change.
His Excellency Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber said that the COP28 presidency is also working to improve the conditions of these countries by reallocating and directing the Special Drawing Rights, a financial instrument allocated by the International Monetary Fund, to the Resilience and Sustainability Fund that was recently established by the Fund, to enhance debt sustainability, and create… Fiscal space to invest in climate resilience. His Excellency highlighted the UAE’s efforts in this field, including the financing initiative worth AED 16.5 billion that was recently announced during the African Climate Summit to support clean energy initiatives and promote green economic growth in Africa.
His Excellency pointed out that the COP28 presidency deals with responsibility and is fully aware of the size of the required task and works across all axes and all directions, and cooperates with everyone based on its conviction that no one has all the necessary solutions to confront the repercussions of climate change. His Excellency delivered another speech at the conclusion of the meeting, in which he praised the countries and institutions nominated to participate in leading the implementation of the vision and procedures for financing adaptation, which he described as an important step to give priority to supporting countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in preparation for COP28.
The UAE, along with the United Kingdom, Malawi and Vanuatu, co-chaired this year’s Ministerial Meeting on Climate and Development, which was held during the preliminary ministerial meetings of the Conference of the Parties in Abu Dhabi, with the aim of ensuring that countries most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change have the opportunity to present the challenges they face to the assembled countries, financial institutions and society. civil society, and allow the parties to discuss and take into account the priorities of these communities in a comprehensive manner.
On this occasion, His Excellency Graham Stewart, Minister of State in the Department of Energy Security and Climate Neutrality in the United Kingdom, stressed the need to support communities most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change, and said that his country intends to fulfill its ambitious climate commitments in conjunction with supporting communities most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change, pointing out To the contribution, amounting to two billion US dollars, that it made earlier this year to the Green Climate Fund.
Stewart pointed out that the discussions of the preliminary ministerial meetings for COP28 constitute an essential factor in preparing an action program for the conference, explaining that the United Kingdom will discuss, in cooperation with its international partners, the challenges and opportunities present in efforts to reduce carbon emissions and help countries most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change to adapt to its effects, as well as It will listen to all points of view and opinions to support global efforts aimed at preserving the possibility of avoiding a rise in global temperature exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius, and will call on all countries to join it in its efforts to reach climate neutrality.
For his part, His Excellency Ralph Regenvanu, Minister of Climate Change Adaptation, Energy, Environment, Meteorology, Geological Hazards and Disaster Management of Vanuatu, stressed the importance of this ministerial meeting, and said: “During our meeting today, the people of Vanuatu are facing scenes of devastation resulting from Cyclone Lula, which struck the country a few days ago.” “Negative climate impacts are increasing daily on the Pacific islands, and the climate change crisis continues to cause ongoing damage.”
He added, “Initiatives on adaptation and resilience are the last line of defense that effectively contributes to saving lives in Vanuatu by reducing the severity of the severe repercussions of the crisis. Therefore, small island developing states are struggling to obtain the funding they need to support their adaptation plans and programs,” stressing The Republic of Vanuatu is keen to cooperate with the countries participating in hosting the Third Ministerial Meeting on Climate and Development to ensure its contribution to making tangible and effective change. It also called on all countries and institutions to accomplish purposeful work to reach the highest ambitions and achieve fundamental progress and the desired qualitative shift in this field.
For his part, His Excellency Dr. Michael Osei, Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change in Malawi, pointed out that the least developed countries are the least responsible for climate change, even though they are the most vulnerable to its repercussions, pointing out that the Republic of Malawi has, over the past years, made many calls to provide more Climate financing is facilitated at the national levels in countries, to contribute to supporting local communities and countries to adapt and build climate resilience. He expressed his happiness with his country’s participation in hosting the third Ministerial Meeting on Climate and Development in order to achieve the radical progress and qualitative shift that the world needs to provide climate financing in the required manner. .
It is noteworthy that the meeting focused on enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of adaptation financing, to ensure that countries most vulnerable to the repercussions of climate change play an active role in the transition to a new climate-supportive economic system.
#President #COP28 #calls #support #countries #vulnerable #repercussions #climate #change